How To Master Multichannel Marketing In 5 Steps

Multichannel marketing is becoming increasingly important to marketers. Being that we are bombarded by nearly 3,000 marketing messages a day, there’s no way to know which platform will get us to bite. The best bet for marketers is to use many mediums to spread their message.

Essentially it’s sending your brand message through a variety of channels. It’s also known as multitouch marketing. Let’s say you want to launch a new product; your new Fresh Fig candle. You’d want to develop a plan for getting more sales through many channels.

There are five, basic steps to successfully launch a multichannel marketing campaign, as listed below.

Step 1: Define Your Approach

When you think about the Customer Lifecycle, marketing is not the only department in a business that should be catering to would-be clients. If the Sales department knows that your multichannel campaign is going to help them get more sales of the Fresh Fig candle, they’re more likely to get involved with helping your campaign run smoothly.

Ask yourself: “What stakeholders need to be involved in this project?”

You might need creative, IT, management, marketing, social media, and even the c-suite to join the team. Make sure you get their buy in early, though. The more solid your team, the more solid your results.

Step 2: Define Your Audience

Buyer personas are extremely important here. If we know that our previous candles have sold to three different segments, then we will likely target those segments again for our new launch.

Each segment should have customized messaging to help with personalization and less abandonment. As you start to pull data on these segments, you may learn more about your audience (and then regroup based on that data).

The more you prepare the better your click-through and conversion rates should be.

Remember that inbounding marketing is about pulling the customer to you, whereas outbound is pushing information out to your audience.

You and the team will need to discuss which channels have had the most success in the past, and which ones have potential for your new product. Not every method you choose will be a smash hit, but what you learn will undoubtedly help you understand your audience better, as well as better plan for the future.

Step 4: Manage Branding

With so many balls (channels) in the air, you’ll want to make sure your branding remains consistent. Say you choose to use a blog, landing page, a free giveaway, email, and social media for your Fresh Fig candle launch. You’ll want to make sure each channel is using a similar, quality design. (See why it was important to get creative on board early on?)

You will also want to try to incorporate personalization with your message. Going back to buyer personas, each segment will more than likely require different messaging, and maybe even different designs.These are things you need to think about!

Another important part of this step is A/B testing – and you can test with nearly every channel you decide to work with.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The user is the most important factor in deciding what works and what doesn’t!

Step 5: Implement

As your campaigns are running you’ll want to analyze the data coming in. Which ones are more successful? Less successful? Why?

Like any marketing venture, you’ll want to set goals and benchmarks for before, during and after your campaign. You can compare these results with previous initiatives and decide how best to move forward.

One important note: Only you and your team can decide what the goals are for your campaign, and the data you measure should be chosen based on those goals and the results you’re aiming for.

Overview

By following the five steps above, you should be able to easily create and deliver a well-planned multichannel campaign. As with any successful project, preparation and planning are essential for success.

Do you have other tips you’d like to add? Please let me know in the comments section below!

Like many of you, Chief Digital Strategist and Founder of B Squared Media, Brooke Ballard, has seen a fundamental shift in business due to social media. How do businesses take advantage of this? Where do they start? Is social media for everyone? In-the-trenches online media experience helps B Squared Media answer these questions for companies seeking to formulate successful social strategies. Using tactics developed in her yearlong honors thesis study, Brooke helps bright and innovative entities develop social strategies around content, community, conversation, collaboration, and conversion. Simply put: Think Conversation, Not Campaign.™ Click here to subscribe to my mailing list